Scottish Poetry of the Eighteenth Century. Edited by George Eyre-Todd.
Vol I. (William Hodge and Co., Glasgow.)—We have here in a handy, well-printed, and not too large book, the first volume of what promises to be a very comprehensive an.- thology of the eighteenth-century poetry of Scotland. That century, says Mr. Eyre-Todd in a well-written introduction, "with the wealth of heart's melody which it poured forth, seems likely to remain for all time the song-century of Scotland. Altogether, alike for the variety and for the richness of its poetic flower, the period remains—in striking contrast with the same period in England—certainly the fullest of emotional charm of all the epochs of the nation's muse." It is probably in the second of his volumes, in which, as a matter of course, that "emotional charm" will be found at its best—in Burns—that Mr. Eyre-Todd will be found making out his case most completely. Nevertheless even his first volume contains some remarkable, if not positively "splendid," names, such as Allan Ramsay, his too little known and imperfectly appreciated correspondent, Hamilton of Gilbertfield,
-the rival authoresses of "The Flowers o' the Forest," " Tulloch gorum " Skinner, " Douglas " Home, the Robert Crawford who wrote "The Bush abune Traquair," James Thomson, and David Mallet, who is credited with "Rule Britannia." The introductions which Mr. Eyre-Todd supplies to the selections that he makes are short and succinct, and though they contain a good deal of bio- graphical information, are not boo detailed in this respect. Mr. Eyre-Todd is, as a rule, scrupulously accurate in his statements. He does not seem to be aware, however, that John Lapraik—the " bauld Lapmik " who was Bums's friend and correspondent— was, to say the least, suspected of plagiarism. It is already evident that Mr. Todd's volume will be a useful and, indeed, valuable con- tribution to the history of Scottish literature in the last century.
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